


Pay the bill

by Nami



Series: bartender Nero meets a devil hunter [2]
Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, No Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:53:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23245819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nami/pseuds/Nami
Summary: Once Dante feels better, he and Nero have a talk, and there is no way Nero will let Dante push him away.___A sequel to"Drinks on the house".
Relationships: Dante/Nero (Devil May Cry)
Series: bartender Nero meets a devil hunter [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1671382
Comments: 8
Kudos: 95





	Pay the bill

**Author's Note:**

> Finally, the second part is hereeeeeeee!!! It's not the part I promised in notes under the first story in this AU but it's only because I needed a story explaining what happened the morning after. I'll deliver the third part with porn soon-ish.
> 
> Violet checked this story for me. Thank you!
> 
> And the last thing: if you have a better idea for the name of this series, you're welcomed to share it with me ^^

**Pay the bill**

Nero woke up with sunlight shining onto his face. He wrinkled his nose in annoyance and turned his face to the other side, weakly pulling a blanket over his head. Sleep was still teetering on the edge of Nero’s consciousness and Nero clenched his eyes, not wanting to wake up already —

— But then Nero remembered it was impossible for sunlight to reach his bed. 

Startled, he opened his eyes, seeing purple material of the blanket. Nero blinked, memories of yesterday’s evening flooded to him and he felt himself blushing when he remembered how he had fallen asleep, with Dante’s head in his laps. So how did he sleep under a blanket?

Slowly, Nero sat up, clutching the blanket in his hands. He was still in Dante’s bedroom but Dante wasn’t with him. Something heavy settled in Nero’s stomach and his throat got dry. Was Dante so angry at him he had left before Nero woke up? Yesterday Nero thought he was ready to face this possibility – that Dante would get angry at Nero for violating his privacy – but now Nero realized how he had lied to himself. 

Before Nero had a chance to spiral further into depressing thoughts, there was a loud knocking on the door.

“Nero? Are you awake?” 

It was Dante. He sounded much better than yesterday, his voice no longer rough and words not slurred.

Nero licked his lips, suddenly awkwardly aware of how he was left alone in Dante’s bedroom.

“Y-yeah, I am.” Nero quickly stood up, almost tripping over the blanket. “Sorry for oversleeping.”

“— No problem. Breakfast is ready, join me if you... want to.” Dante sounded almost nervous saying that and Nero was reminded of how Dante hadn’t wanted Nero to see him while he had looked like a part demon. “I’ll be waiting in the kitchen.”

Nero nodded before he remembered Dante couldn’t see him. He heard more shuffling and then heavy steps going away from the door. 

The place suddenly got too quiet and too cold. Nero put the blanket on the bed, noticing how Dante had to put a fresh bedsheet over the ruined mattress. Nero had to be exhausted if he didn’t wake up when Dante moved him around the bed. 

That thought made Nero blush. And then he blushed harder, thinking of how yesterday he let himself freely touch Dante’s body. He had done that to help Dante yet it didn’t change the fact Nero was going to have difficulties looking at Dante’s face. 

Shit, they were going to talk about that. About how Nero had barged in Dante’s house, how Dante was a part demon and Nero apparently didn’t care about it too much, how Dante didn’t want Nero to ever leave —

_Oh, right._

Now _that_ was something Nero was looking forward to talking about.

* * *

Nero quickly washed his face in the bathroom. After yesterday’s activities he longed for a shower but that had to wait. He _did_ let himself use a little of one of bottles with cologne, just to not smell like unwashed clothes and too much sweat. He immediately recognized it as the smell Dante used from time to time – fresh like early in the morning with a touch of sandalwood — and for a few seconds Nero just stood in the bathroom, sniffing his hands and enjoying that scent.

Sparda, he was hopeless.

Taking a deep breath, Nero left the bathroom and took stairs down. He quickly walked past the row of skulls, feeling as if empty holes of their eyes followed his every step. They looked more terrifying in the light of the day than at night. Despite wanting to leave the room as soon as possible, just like yesterday Nero’s gaze caught the beautiful blue katana; he wondered if he could ask Dante where he got it from.

Nero’s hand trembled only slightly when he turned the doorknob, letting himself to the kitchen. His eyebrows rose in surprise when he noticed a plate with freshly made sandwiches and a pot of coffee on the table. There was almost no food in Dante’s house yesterday so that breakfast meant Dante had to go to a shop while Nero slept. 

That thought made something warm and fuzzy curl in Nero’s chest.

“Hi,” he said with a tentative smile, closing the door behind himself.

Dante sat at the table, facing Nero. He looked much better than yesterday, dressed in clean clothes, no longer pale like a death itself – if Nero didn’t know better, he wouldn’t be able to say that just a few hours ago Dante was deadly sick. 

His eyes, no longer red but again blue, were trained on Nero, observing how Nero walked slowly to the table, Dante’s face completely expressionless. It unnerved Nero more than he would admit; somehow being observed by Dante in his demonic form was less stressful.

“Hey,” Dante answered back only when Nero sat down too. He leaned back in the chair, folding his arms on his chest. “Thanks for taking care of me yesterday. The toxin is gone already.”

Straight to the point.

Nero’s hand froze above the plate with sandwiches, but he refused to squirm under Dante’s gaze. It was weird to face Dante being so closed off. There were no traces off that jovial smile Nero loved so much and Nero could swear the air was getting colder with every passing second.

“... You’re welcome?” Nero put two sandwiches on his own plate. Bread was still warm, tomatoes and salad on it looked very tasty – and wasn’t it a miracle in itself that Dante knew what salad was? It wasn’t a topping for any pizza. “I... um... thank you for the breakfast.”

Dante nodded, those otherworldly pale eyes not blinking at all. It made Nero’s throat dry but his hands didn’t shake when he poured himself a cup of coffee. Small success. 

“I thought you may be hungry. I don’t really need to eat, you know?” It was a rhetorical question, asked in a surprisingly light tone considering how Dante’s face still wasn’t showing any emotions. 

Nero didn’t know how to react to that. Something shifted in the air, Dante’s eyes narrowed and Nero knew that one stupid word could result in him getting kicked out.

But maybe he was getting tired of playing nice. Dante was acting weird and Nero would not take it. Dante had a right to be angry at Nero, to tell him to get out and never come back – as much as that thought hurt – but this cold-as-stone Dante wasn’t _normal_. 

“I know now.” It was very stupid, but Nero straightened in his chair, looking at Dante challengingly. “I got to know a lot of things about you in the past, what, fourteen hours?”

Something in the back of Nero’s head told him it was very stupid to act so forward in the face of a predator... yet Nero rebelled against that thought. It was _Dante_. Dante who had protected Nero from a demon, who kept protecting the whole city. Dante wouldn’t hurt him, he probably was... Nero’s eyes widened slightly when sudden realization hit him, and he wanted to kick himself for being so stupid. Nuns at the orphanage would be disappointed at how careless Nero was.

Nero had spent yesterday’s evening and today’s morning worrying about how Dante would react to what Nero had done but not even once Nero thought that maybe Dante was wondering of how Nero would react. After all, Dante’s secret of being a half-demon was revealed to someone else under circumstances Dante didn’t have much power over. Maybe Dante never wanted Nero to know about that side of him. How would Nero feel in his situation? What might Dante be thinking?

Well, _that_ wasn’t hard to guess. The question was what was Nero supposed to do now.

Taking a deep breath and pretending he didn’t notice how Dante’s gaze zeroed for a moment on the delicate skin of his throat when he gulped, Nero leaned back in his chair too, trying to look completely relaxed. Dante liked him enough to want Nero to stay, even feverish and changed into a demon he had been delicate with Nero. All those things filled Nero with hope. He could do it, he would – well, not force Dante in a relationship but Nero would try to do his best to keep a friend.

“You had a fever so you may not remember but I told you yesterday I wasn’t going to run away. That hasn’t changed..” A surprise flickered over Dante’s face – a first emotion he showed since Nero had entered the kitchen. “I’m not going to tell anyone about your... e... who you are either.”

For a few seconds longer Dante kept looking at Nero with intensity of an animal that smelt blood and was preparing for a strike but finally he sighed heavily, his shoulders sagging down. He rubbed his face tiredly, watching Nero from between his fingers.

“How can you be so calm about it?” he asked. “Nero, you saw me. I could rip your throat but with my teeth alone or bend you in half with one hand –”

“You can do it even now.”

“And,” Dante glared at him, but it lacked strength, “you didn’t even see my full demonic form. It was only an _appetizer_ , kid. I’m not... not who do you think I am.”

“Oh?” Nero bristled at that. “Great to know you can read my mind! So tell me,” Nero snarled, masking with anger being scared over the direction this talk was taking, “who did I think you were, old man?”

“Let me think! Maybe a human?” Sarcasm dripped from Dante’s words, his face twisted into a grimace of annoyance. 

“A good person,” Nero almost growled.

 _That_ silenced Dante. His eyes widened, and he looked like he didn’t know what exactly to say next. With his heart racing, Nero continued:

“Listen, I know you are angry at me for learning your secret and I know you think I should run away screaming but I... I... you _saved_ me Dante,” Nero said in a pleading voice, not liking how Dante’s expression was getting stormy. “Yeah, I was scared at first and afraid of touching you but you... you didn’t hurt me and you needed help and I... I’m just not scared.” Nero finished lamely. “I... I could never be afraid of you,” he added quietly, finally looking away from Dante, his cheeks getting red.

Nero was never good at talking about emotions but showing Dante the depth of Nero’s feelings for him, if only a little, seemed like a good idea. Dante may believe Nero or not, Nero didn’t care – no, that wasn’t right. Nero _did_ care, Nero wanted Dante with every fiber of his being, yet the most important thing for Nero right now was Dante believing him. Nero wasn’t scared. Not anymore.

“I would... if I didn’t know you, I would be terrified,” Nero confessed, looking at branches of a tree growing by the kitchen’s window; they were moving slightly. “But I _know_ you, I know you aren’t dangerous, you’re not a-a monster.” Nero turned his gaze to his laps, unable to look at Dante, scared of rejection he might see on that handsome face. “It’s... hard to accept just like that, that you’re a half-demon and all but it doesn’t change who you are... who you let me gotta know... unless all of that was a lie?” 

And wasn’t that a terrifying thought? That Dante had been pretending the whole time, that maybe he was a completely different person than Nero loved?

“No, it wasn't'.” Those words were spoken in such earnest tone, Nero’s head yanked up to look at Dante.

Dante wasn’t looking at Nero though. He turned away too, seemingly observing the same tree Nero had a few moments ago, his eyes covered by his fringe. He looked strangely defeated and Nero’s stomach clenched painfully. Was it his fault?

“It wasn't,” he repeated in a flat tone. “I have never lied to you, Nero. Never.”

“That’s good.” Nero nodded to himself and then said, before courage left him: “Because I was really happy when you said you didn’t want me to ever leave you.”

Dante’s fingers dug into his arms yet his voice was calm when he spoke.

“So you remember that?”

“Mhy,” Nero mumbled in confirmation, remembering how _happy_ he had been then, how optimistic, thinking only about himself and not taking into consideration how Dante may feel about this whole situation the next day... But they had promised each other to talk. And Nero had promised to stay. “You... you said I was—”

“I know what I said, Nero,” Dante interrupted him. He finally turned to Nero, looking very tired, almost as if defeated. “And I still think that too,” he murmured, his voice soft and honest. It made Nero feel light all of the sudden, his heart beating quicker from joy. 

Something of his inner happiness had to show on his face because Dante smiled at him; a small, melancholic smile.

Nero wanted to kiss that smile.

“That’s... good. I think that about you too, you know?” Nero asked, feeling how his whole face was turning hot and his only saving grace was that Dante’s cheeks were dusted with pink too.

“I had a hunch,” Dante confessed, his face turning serious again. “It’s irresponsible of me... let me finish,” Dante raised his hand and Nero’s words of denial died in his throat. “It was irresponsible because you are so young and... I’m a part-demon, kid. I hunt other demons for a living, my reputation in his city is less than good, I drink and flirt with everyone too much but I still _want_ you.” Dante barked a humourless laugh. “I’m a selfish bastard, kid, I just can’t let go of you.” 

“So? Everyone keeps telling me how I should find myself someone my age but I-I want you,” Nero stated, his stomach twisting into knots. Here was Dante, laying his cards open and like hell Nero was going to chicken out. He was not a child, he could answer Dante’s honesty with his own. “We’re both selfish assholes, old man.”

Dante’s gaze turned calculating, like he was pondering over something.

“You’re not afraid of me too. You are seriously just going to accept I’m a part-demon?” The disbelief in Dante’s voice was so strong Nero winced.

It _was_ honest to Sparda surprising how _little_ Nero was scared over the fact that there was demonic blood flooding through Dante’s veins. No wonder Dante was shocked; every sane person would probably scream in panic or at least demand to know how _that_ happened.

Nero refused to think how his acceptance of Dante’s other side could be influenced by how he might have liked how Dante had looked yesterday. Nero was terrified and totally not turned on when he realized how much bigger than him Dante had been when partially turned. Scared, yeah, that and nothing else.

“Well... It’d be nice if you told me more about it. And about you in general.” Nero pushed hands into pockets on his trousers, clenching them nervously and praying he wasn’t blushing too much. “No pressure, take your time. You know I’m not going anywhere.” Nero masked his nervousness with a wink.

That seemed to surprise Dante even more.

“No pressure,” Dante repeated slowly. He shook his head, a real, honest to Sparda smile on his lips. “Kid, you’re unbelievable.”

“I know,” Nero grinned at him, his mouth running on its own before Nero could stop himself, “You wouldn’t want me any other way.” 

There was an unspoken question in that statement, a silent “right?” written all over it. 

Instead of answering it, Dante groaned, his cheeks becoming more red.

“Gods, kid, you’re killing me.” Dante put both his arms on the table and hid his face against them. When he looked up at Nero, Nero could see only his eyes shining with mirth. “But you’re right, I wouldn’t like you any other way.”

Now it was Nero’s turn to get even redder. He rubbed his nose in embarrassment, smiling widely at Dante. He felt light and happy, and Dante looked so happy too, and everything was turning out to be fucking perfect and –

“So,” Nero started, happiness bubbling in him, his voice trembling from all those feelings stirring in him, “we are good, right?” Embarrassment was killing him but Nero had to ask his next question, “Since we’re both stubborn assholes does it mean… I just… are we... together?”

Mortified, Nero wished for a hole to open under him and swallow him whole. That was very smooth; he couldn’t sound more like a fucking kid speaking to his first crush even if he tried.

“Nero...” Dante stood up and leaned over the table, taking Nero’s chin in his hand. His touch was unusually gentle and Nero’s skin burnt pleasantly in the place where Dante touched him. “This will be difficult,” Dante said, his face so close Nero felt his breath.

“I know.” A relationship with a guy older than him by fifteen years would be difficult on its own, but that guy was also a part-demon. Nero wasn’t expecting everything to go smoothly. “ I want to try if you want it too.”

Dante’s expression softened, his lips curved up in a smile and Nero felt himself relaxing just from looking at it. Up close, he could smell the scent of Dante’s cologne, the same Nero had used, and he decided he liked it better on Dante’s skin. The smell was much more alluring this way.

Or maybe it was because _Dante_ wore it. 

“Yeah, I want it too.” A big grin almost split Dante’s face in half.

His gaze flickered down to Nero’s lips before coming back to Nero’s eyes and that grin changed into a more wicked smile. There was something _predatory_ in Dante’s expression now. His nostrils widened slightly when he took a deep breath, obviously smelling his own cologne on Nero and Nero’s own breath quickened from excitement at how _hungry_ it made Dante look like. 

“I’m going to kiss you now,” Dante whispered, leaning closer, his eyes half-lidded and mouth slightly parted.

Nero reached up to caress Dante’s lips with his thumb, marvelling over the softness of Dante’s skin, his heart beating so loudly in his chest he was sure Dante heard it.

“I’ll kick your ass if you don’t.”

Dante laughed when he pressed his lips against Nero’s own and there was only one word Nero could use to describe the overwhelming wave of happiness which flooded through him, melting his bones and making him sigh with content into Dante’s eager mouth.

Bliss.

**Author's Note:**

> They are both stubborn, selfish dumbasses and I love them ♥ I promise to do my best to write the next part quicker than this one; I was reminded how much I like this AU.
> 
> Comments are welcomed!
> 
> My twitter if you want to talk is [here](https://twitter.com/firebyfire).


End file.
